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Outlook: Strengths are athleticism, quickness and shooting ability. Weakness is lack of experience, according to first-year coach Shawn Ransom.

"We lost a lot of seniors last year, probably 80-85 percent of their scoring, their leadership and things like that," Ransom said. "The only returning scorer is Lakeysha. She averaged 12.9 a game last year, but she wasn't really heavily relied on because she had so much senior leadership (around her)."

McCoy won't be available until January due to a torn meniscus.

"She's probably the most physical inside presence that I have," Ransom said. "So we're really small, but we're extremely quick, we're athletic. We look to push the ball up and down the floor, and we're just trying to be real hectic on defense, quick buckets on offense. We want to lead the state in points scored. We like to get our shots up and we like to play our pressure defense."

That pressure will come in various forms, he said.

"We'll mix it up. We'll do a lot of man; we'll do some zone. We'll do a lot of full-court trapping; even when we go to the half-court we do a lot of trapping. It all depends on the matchup personnel we're going against."

"There's a little bit of experience that may help us out," Coach Allison Denton said. "We've got four pretty solid three-point shooters in Givens and Pankins and Ken'yale Demus and Shirlisa Demus."

Post play features 6-4 Ashanti Thomas and 6-0 Sarah Cooley. But Pankins can play in the paint if needed, as can 5-8 Marion County freshman transfer Kendyl Powell and sophomore Aisha Conwell. Denton figures her bench gives her seven to nine players who can contribute.

As for tempo, "our success last year came off of the steals that we had. We can run; we're a very good running team," Denton said. "Our decision-making has some way to go. We could run all day but it doesn't mean good things will come out of it. I want hard work. ... We're wanting our offense to come from our defense, so I'm hoping if our defense is where it's supposed to be, we're going to get those steals that we need. So I would prefer a fast pace, but we'll see. That comes with decision-making. If our decision-making has improved, then that will determine whether or not we can run."

Outlook: Although Catholic must replace the scoring and leadership of Octavia Wilson, who is now at the University of New Orleans, this season's squad has more experience and depth than a year ago. The Lady Knights will go eight or nine deep.

"Offensively, we'll be more balanced," Coach Scott True said.

He added that he wants a transition-style team, keyed by a defense that will play a lot of man and some zone, trying to keep opponents off-balance.

"We're not overly athletic," he said, so it's important to keep the other team from finding a rhythm. Then there's quality of opponents, going back to last season. "We played one of the toughest schedules in the state last year, and that will help us this year," True said.

Rachel Blake leads the returnees in scoring with 11 points (and five rebounds) a game. Suzanne Miller and Caroline Lynch each averaged six points, while Bailey Browning added five points and three assists per game.

Outlook: "Although small in number, we have great leadership from our seniors," Coach Nick Cann said. "On the floor, we should have solid guard play, with a great group of shooters and ballhandlers."

Hannah Sue Hartley will be handling the ball quite a bit. So will sharpshooter Katelin Bundy, a Belmont signee.

Off the bench, Sydney Weeks and Allison Brooks will provide depth.

As for style, "we're going to try to get up and down," Cann said. "I know that in the past they haven't done as much of that. They've slowed it down a little bit. But we've been working pretty hard on our transition game and getting the ball up and down the floor, looking for early offense. ... Trying to use some of our speed. We're not real big, but we do have some kids that are fast and that can move. We want to get out and try to get our shooters spotted up and get them some quick, easy looks."

LCA will mix it up on defense with half-court man-to-man, some zone and even a little full-court defense.

"We're just trying to play to our strengths and what we think we're best at," Cann said.

Outlook: "First and foremost, our strength is always defense and always has been, so we're going to continue with this group and try to defend," Coach Sarah Bridenbaugh said. "The offense will come from that."

One thing that has changed is a makeup that has gone from speed last season to height this time.

"We're actually pretty big this year, so being as tall as we are we're going to look to rebound and expose some teams in that area," Bridenbaugh said.

The Bulldogs will start three bigs in 5-10 Nicole Armstrong, 6-2 Brooke Todd and 6-0 Merissa Marrow, a transfer from Nebraska.

Tempo will "come down to a lot more X's and O's for this team this year, and execution on offense and defense," Bridenbaugh said. "We're probably not going to be able to get out and outrun teams like we have in the past."

Dunbar has experience with 10 who are juniors or seniors. "I think we're going to compete with teams," Bridenbaugh said. "We worked so hard in this pre-season, and all the focus has been on our defense. ... We're very smart and we rebound well, so we're going to try to lean on those things to win ballgames."

"(Gabby) Bowie and (Molly) Manella can score with anybody," Coach Scott Sutton said. "Gabby is a terrific all-around player — scores, boards, blocks shots and I ask her to handle the ball a lot. Getting Grace (Rahman) back will help. Experience will help this year."

Bowie averaged 14.3 points and 11.3 rebounds last season, and blocked 151 shots. Manella added 14.7 points and 1.8 assists. Rahman missed last season due to a knee injury.

Other returning players include Haydn White, who averaged 3.3 points and 2.1 rebounds, and Sydney Strup, who added 4 points and 3.2 rebounds. Several players made their varsity debuts last season, so experience will be a plus this time around.

"Defense will improve this year with Rahman coming back," Sutton said. "She was my best player on defense as a sophomore. We must rebound better. We are not big at all, and we need to take the pressure off."

Outlook: The strength of the Commodores, Coach Tina Winn said, is defense. She favors man-to-man coverage but will mix in other looks to focus on "pressuring the ball."

As for makeup, "I don't have any superstars but I have great role players," Winn said. "So I think the strength is us being a team and working together. They all get along really well."

The biggest question marks are rebounding and youth.

"There are a lot of young girls that are on this team, so you're dealing with the fundamentals of the game. Just the I.Q., I think, will be a big thing."

In addition, "I've seen improvement from the summer. It was a tough summer for us, but we got a lot of basketball in. I just think the girls went back during our break and just kind of revamped. ... They're working hard, so I've seen improvement, and that's really all I ask for, especially from a young team."

Winn wants to see an up-tempo game, triggered by pressure. "I think with us being so young, with us staying together as a part of this team, I think we'll be stronger as we go along. Right now, we'll hit our bumps in the road, but it's a part of growth, and I have girls that want to be here."